It's not often that someone who lives in a jazz and fusion environment, physically of course, sets out on their own path, walking their own pace, independent of the world around them. And that's where Željka Veverec, aka Je Veux, is somewhat of an endemic phenomenon on our scene.
Even the influences, which are so hidden, yet visible, do not indicate what becomes clear after the first note and the first letter of the verse – Željka is a singer and author of a distinctive sensibility, who lives her songs and interprets them as they were born in her head.
And they are full of life, but not the flashy, glamorous kind from the covers of fashion magazines, but the intimate kind, in which the author questions, confirms, doubts...
Trying to separate authorship and performance is impossible, because she is an "all in one" artist, where all parameters are so intertwined that the very attempt at demarcation carries within itself a completely failed definition of her being and creation.
Above all, it is obvious from her work that the issue of artistic integrity has been raised to the highest level, because the awareness of creation and uniqueness is so great that she does not allow anyone, not even a life partner and musical collaborator, to influence the river of emotions and impressions that, through creation, are transformed into the essence of her work.
To the extent that in a media interview, on the occasion of the launch of his solo album And Glow, stated that she did not allow anyone, not even Toni, to "poke through the songs."
This statement says it all!
Željka is extremely active within the almost family project Mangroove, in which she plays a significant role – to the point that in the long run the band de facto identified with her.
Although the album Heart was the peak of the parent group Mangroove's work and it was to be assumed that Željka, who made a huge contribution to its content, would calm down a bit and somewhat live on the wings of the album's success, but reality showed a different intention.
She first recorded an album in 2013. Yesterday Today Tomorrow in collaboration with Soul Basement, an Italian producer and keyboardist – an album whose content ideally fits her sensibility and perfectly corresponds to her voice. Soul-tinged jazz ballads are the very soul of this artist.
He then embarks on a new adventure called a solo album, and in 2021 it saw the light of day. And Glow, which brought Željka a recognizable, but also creative, appearance and earned her numerous awards and recognitions.
And the awards were lined up like on a ribbon:
When we talk about her voice, we can't avoid that velvety jazzy vocal that transports us wistfully to some basement jazz club on gloomy American nights, when there's a small band on stage and a singer who delivers life stories to rare guests, enveloped in cigarette smoke and the smell of whiskey.
At that point in his career, he interrupted his solo work, as he launched a new album with Mangroove in collaboration with the HRT Jazz Orchestra, Something bigger than us, with which he won two Porin and Rock & Off awards for jazz artist of the year.
Željka Veverec, aka Je Veux, is an artist who, through her work and performances, illuminates the entire range of feelings, thoughts, and even reflections that make up her inner state. In doing so, she inevitably enables the audience to identify with them through her life stories and music.
And that is a quality that the great possess!
Jerko Jaksic
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